Mac-Adventures (with books!)
Reading an eclectic mix of books,
some years old, rarely prizewinners,
sometimes on bestseller lists
but more than likely not:
but the ones I like I'll tell you about..........
if you read them,let me know!
You may also find Gardening here,
Home and Furniture makeovers;
sometimes Food, Travel tales.....
but mostly, Books.

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Saturday, 23 August 2014

The Good Italian - Stephen Burke

Here
is war. War at it's worst, but no different from any other war for men
take sides and fight others, loyalties change, people are killed,
people are hurt, both physically and mentally. But the strength to
survive also includes the will to love. Enzo is the Italian
harbourmaster at Massawa, Eritrean port and part of the growing Italian
empire. His friend, Salvatore, a colonel in the Italian army who has
never seen battle, is posted at the local garrison, and is living the
good life. Salvatore has an Eritrean girlfreind as so many Italians in
this area do, and he urges Enzo to take an Eritrean housekeeper, who
will cook and clean for him.... and perhaps share his bed sometimes.
Then Aatifa comes into Enzo's life.

A nice and quiet life -
until Mussolini decideds that he wants Ethiopia, and the troops will come
in via the port of Massawa. It is then that things change very
quickly. Enzo, the beaurocratic form filler and decent man, finds
himself in the middle of a war that he wants nothing to do with.
Someone decrees that taking an Eritrean as a wife or lover is against
the law. Italians soon ditch their exotic girlfriends, even those who
have children with their Italian partners.

This book has a very
slow start, and for a while I wondered where it was going. But stick
with it is my advice, and you will soon find yourself caught up in
Enzo's life. The descriptions throughout the book are perfect, they
give you the feel of everything - the port, Enzo's office, his home,
even the bedclothes in a brothel are there before your eyes. But it is
as fighting escalates that the shocks start. Small men in big jobs
become so foul that you hate them for it; good men must very quickly
obey orders that go with the wearing of a uniform. And Enzo, who has
never wanted to be part of Italy's new empire, just took a job that
seemed to him to offer a good life; Enzo, who does not treat his
Eritrean staff any different from his Italian staff; Enzo has to find
his way through this dreadful time and hope that he can protect Aatifa
too

If you know nothing of WW2 action in North Africa, this is a
fine book to start you down that road. There are a couple of pages of
excellent notes at the back which will fill in some history - and
probably surprise you, too. And finally, the author has recommended a
couple of books that, if you are interesting in knowing more, are worth
the read. But don't forget, this is above all the story of a quiet man
and his love for a damaged woman.

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MY VIEWS/MYREVIEWS..... are definitely mine alone! I review books by reading them first and then saying what I think. They are mostly "likes" , as books I have not liked are not worth reviewing for this blog. But yes, it's all my own work, all my own words!

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